As tennis is growing very fast, there is more and more demand for revamping facilities.
The Slams are responding well. Both the Australian Open and Wimbledon have now retractable roofs and soon (in 6 years time) the French Open will be added to the list. The Us Open… well they need to do something sooner or later.
The Work
As with the other tennis tournaments, the French Open is becoming more and more popular, and they need to increase the capacity. So, after the revamping, the overall surface will cover up to 12.5 hectares (from 8).
Also, a retractable roof (and lights) will be installed over the Philippe Chatrier center court, and a fourth show court (with a roof) will be created.
The work had to be completed by 2017, but it was postponed to 2018.
The estimated cost is 340 million euro.
From the French Federation
Jean Gachassin, the President, said “We have four difficult years ahead us and we will need to tighten our belts both at our headquarters and in the provinces. We have been taking advantage of what we have and now it is time to make efforts of our own”
